Survey: The world’s opinion of America drops under President Trump

Survey: The world’s opinion of America drops under President Trump

A new survey by the Pew Research Center shows that the world’s opinion of the United States and its president’s ability to lead has been plummeting ever since Donald Trump took office.

The survey spanned 37 nations and showed that the United States’ favorability in the world had dropped to 49 percent, down from a 64 percent rating at the end of former President Barack Obama‘s term in office. In particular, the fall from grace was steep for close allies like Mexico and Germany as well as for European allies like Germany and Spain.

In Mexico in particular, 30 percent of people see the United States favorably, down over 30 points from 66 percent at the end of the Obama administration.

Both Canada and Germany fell 22 points, with Canadian views of the United States at 43 percent and German views at 35 percent favorable. It’s a drop in favorability, especially in Europe, that is reminiscent of the George W. Bush era. Bush was particularly unpopular in Europe because of the war in Iraq.

“The drop in favorability ratings for the United States is widespread,” the Pew report said. “The share of the public with a positive view of the U.S. has plummeted in a diverse set of countries from Latin America, North America, Europe, Asia and Africa.”

The survey didn’t show an unfavorable view of Americans in general, with 58 percent of respondents saying that they had a favorable view of Americans. But when it came to the president of the United States, it was entirely the opposite story. Only 22 percent of respondents felt confident that Trump would do the right thing, compared to 64 percent at the end of the Obama era. That’s lower than Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping, who were at 27 and 28 percent respectively.

Trump’s favorability ratings were lowest in Mexico, at only 5 percent, at 7 percent. Russia and Israel were the only countries to see an increase in favorability ratings. Russia’s ratings skyrocketed from 11 percent to 53 percent, while Israel’s went up 7 percentage points to 56 percent.

Still, a majority of respondents were optimistic, saying that they did not expect relations with the United States to change, even despite the poor favorability ratings.